Functional disability and mental impairment as predictors of mortality in community-dwelling elderly Puerto Ricans

This is a prospective study that explores the role of functional impairment as predictor of one-year mortality in the elderly of rural Puerto Rico. Between September, 1987 and June 1988, 1901 elderly were interviewed at their place of residence. Besides obtaining social and demographic information, assessment of functional status using a modified Katz scale and determination of mental status using the Short Portable Mental Status questionnaire were performed. During the one-year follow-up period 43 participants died. Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that the presence of functional (OR = 5.31) and mental impairment (OR = 2.22) were independent predictors of mortality when adjusted for age, education, gender and income. These findings are consistent with those of other studies, where the presence of functional and mental impairment, detected on admission to a hospital or while living in the community, were associated to a higher mortality.